Several epizooties of yellow fever registered in recent months, together with an increase in the number of cases that have been detected in man, has flashed an alert signal in the vigilance system of the Ministry of Health of Brazil.

By means of a technical report submitted on January 9, 2008, Brazilian health authorities officially informed the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) about the current sanitary status of the country regarding yellow fever. They also described the measures that are being taken in order to control a major outbreak of this disease throughout the region.

Since April of 2007, the local vigilance system for yellow fever has reported a high number of deaths amongst wild non-human primates in 80 districts belonging to nine states of the country. However, so far the cases reported for the state of Goiás have been the only ones confirmed as being caused by yellow fever. Moreover, between the months of December 2007 and January 2008 similar reports in Goiás increased significantly, with 23 new districts affected by the virus, including tourist destinations such as Caldas Novas, Rio Quente and Pirenópolis. More epizooties were reported in 13 districts of the Distrito Federal, and four additional ones in the state of Minas Gerais.

Regarding the number of cases of yellow fever reported during 2007 in humans, six have occurred between the months of January and November in the states of Amazonas, Pará, Roraima and Goiás. All of them have been diagnosed as sylvatic or forest yellow fever. On the other hand, and in line with the increase in epizooties registered at the end of 2007 and beginning of 2008, seven cases in humans -three of them fatal- were reported in the state of Goiás and in the Distrito Federal, all of them also associated to the sylvatic or forest cycle.

This situation has prompted an alert within state sanitary authorities and the National Ministry of Health in order to take action and prevent the virus from spreading in the districts mentioned above, and also to detect potential new cases.

All of this has lead to an increase in the manufacture and production of vaccines at the Biomanguinhos Institute of Immuno-biological Technology of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz). The number of vaccines produced has now doubled to 39 million doses. Vaccination has also increased amongst the population above six months old in the endemic areas and in those districts where epizooties have been reported.


For further information please download the following document:
http://portal.saude.gov.br/portal/arquivos/pdf/nota_epizootia_0901.pdf